2 - How to add GIFs to your conversation

GIFs are housed in a number of different categories - these can be scrolled left and right.

Just tap on your GIF of choice to insert it into your message.

3 - How to search for GIFs

If you're struggling to find that perfect GIF, you might want to take advantage of the search tool.

Tap the magnifying glass icon

Type into the search bar

SwiftKey will return your GIF search results

4 - Common GIF issues

Data usage

As with any rich media, if you're concerned about the effect GIFs might have on your data allowance we'd recommend switching to WiFi while browsing and sending GIFs.

GIF exceeds maximum allowable file size

At this moment in time there are a few limitations when adding GIFs. For instance it's not possible to attach them to a text message on some devices.

This happens because they exceed the maximum allowable file size, so we encourage users to download and use an alternative to their stock messaging app. A popular recommendation is Google's Android Messages app.

You'll find that GIFs are fully supported elsewhere such as in WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook etc.

It's not currently possible to change the emoji style within SwiftKey itself. SwiftKey uses the standard Android/iOS emoji font, which means that the emoji style you see within SwiftKey (emoji panel/emoji predictions) is dependent on your OS or the app you are using.

However, in most messaging apps you can choose which emoji style you see once you have input an emoji or sent/received a message.

For more information on why emoji look different within different apps, please see this article.

1 - Emoji panel

The lovely team at SwiftKeyhave worked extremely hard to ensure that you have the best looking and most user friendly emoji panel around.

How to access the emoji panel

We offer you two different ways of accessing the emoji panel:

By long pressing the ‘enter’ (return) key found in the bottom right hand corner of the keyboard.

With the dedicated emoji key in the bottom left.

Change your emoji preferences by following the below steps:

Open the SwiftKey app from your device

Tap 'Typing'

Tap 'Keys'

Check/uncheck ‘Dedicated emoji key’

How to use the emoji panel

The emoji panel enables you to easily find and insert emoji into messages. The full-width panel allows you to see a large selection of emoji at a time.

Once you’ve found the emoji you’re after, simply tap to insert into your text field - as many times as you’d like. Once you’re done, just tap the ‘abc’ key in the bottom left hand corner to go back to the standard keyboard.

2 - Emoji prediction

What is Emoji prediction?

As you probably know, at SwiftKey we like to predict things (mainly words). What you may not know is that SwiftKey also provides you with the option of having emoji suggested on the prediction bar.

With emoji prediction enabled, SwiftKey will suggest emoji in the prediction bar for various words. It will also learn from your emoji usage so that if you always send a particular emoji after a particular word, SwiftKey will have that ready and waiting for you, like this:

How to enable/disable Emoji prediction

To enable or disable emoji prediction, please do the following:

Open the Toolbar by tapping the '+'

Tap the 'Settings' cog

Check or uncheck ‘Emoji predictions’.

You can also find this option by opening the SwiftKey app, then navigating to 'Typing' > 'Typing & Autocorrect'.

SwiftKey Keyboard for Android uses the standard Android font. This means, that depending on what version of the Android OS your device(s) are running and what app you are using, the look and color of the emoji will be impacted. Different manufacturers may also provide a different font than the standard Android one as well.

Also, if the font on your device has been changed to something other than the Android system font, emoji will most likely not be visible. This issue has to do with the actual font and not SwiftKey.

The emoji menu is accessed from the keyboard by tapping or long pressing the emoji/enter key in the bottom right corner, or via the dedicated emoji key in the bottom left (depending on your settings).

You can change this by following the below steps:

Open the SwiftKey app from your device

Tap 'Typing'

Tap 'Keys'

Check/uncheck ‘Dedicated emoji key’

With the 'Dedicated emoji key' checked, just tap on the emoji (smiley) face to open the emoji panel.

If you leave it unchecked you can still access emoji by long pressing the 'Enter' key.

Once you open the panel, just scroll through, choose the emoji you would like to use, and tap to enter into the text field. Or, you can return to the normal keyboard panel by tapping the 'abc' key.

When you next use the keyboard, you will be offered commonly used emoji on the right side of the prediction bar. SwiftKey Keyboard learns your individual usage and predicts appropriate emoji in context.

Why do emoji look different in certain apps with SwiftKey Keyboard for Android?

Emoji on the SwiftKey Keyboard for Android uses the standard Android font. This means, that depending on what version of Android your device(s) are running and what app you are using, the look and color of the emoji will be impacted.

Some apps, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, have built in their own variations of emoji that are different from the Android system font.

This means that if you use a SwiftKey emoji on Facebook, for example, it will look different in the app compared to what you saw in SwiftKey Keyboard. This is not a bug, but something implemented by other apps. Also, if you send messages from an Android device to an iOS device (or vice versa) the emoji may display differently.